Monthly Archives: January 2014

I went to Chapel Hill, NC, to attend the first conference on autism employment entrepreneurship (January 27-29) and joined 150 others from across the country who were business founders (for profit and non profit) , funders, educators, social service providers, and people considering starting businesses designed to employ people with autism

The conference was sponsored by the Ireland family who found Extraordinary Ventures 5 years ago. One of their ventures is operating an events space, so naturally we met there. It’s a nice two story building across the street from a shopping center which includes Whole Foods. On the upper level is a large open space for events. Downstairs is where three of their other ventures are housed. We were given a tour of the operations and observed a laundry business servicing the frat houses of Duke and Chapel Hill, a candle making business, and a mail room business. They also brought in a Chapel Hill community bus to their parking lot to demonstrate how their employees clean the city buses, usually done at the depot.

Extraordinary Ventures worked with the UNC TEACCH program to apply the TEACCH methodology to work tasks using lots of visuals to provide step by step instructions. Most of the jobs at EV were designed with their own son’s level of functioning as the baseline; this includes jobs with repetitive tasks and consistent cadence of work. As some workers demonstrate more skill, they are given more responsibility. We had a chance to watch staff at work.

The Irelands had two of their adult children helping with the event. Their son with autism came to work for a bit too.

Extraordinary Ventures, a non-profit, decided to take advantage of the college town and hired 5 young adults who wanted to have the opportunity to be entrepreneurs. These young business managers liken it to Teach for America where they dedicate a few years of hands on experience before heading off to business school. They are given the freedom to try business ideas that may fail and have learned to create businesses that fit their employees skills but also meet a market need. They manage the business based on business principals, and lead with the business value, not with the social mission.

For example they discovered that when advertising using Google Ad words, that ads with out the word “autism” pulled better response than ads with “autism”.

Rising Tide car wash is a for-profit business in South Florida. Because of the equipment needed, the land and insurance, the start up costs were extensive – about $3 million. They have been in business for 10 months. Because they created their own very detailed training processes for their employees they learned to not hire people who have had car wash experience. The training process they put their employees through helped to create social bonds, a real challenge for those with autism. They also found that while many people with autism are not motivated by money, that in fact their best employees are. They particularly respond to the tips (which increased when customers were informed of the mission of the car wash) They have a site to share their business concepts: Can Do Biz

AutonomyWorksis a benefit corporation, a new type of corporation structure that allows executives to make decisions that are in the best interest of the business mission even if it does not maximize profits. The founders chose the for profit approach because they wanted to attract capital from investors. They identified the business opportunity to do work that many corporations have been off-shoring or out-sourcing (ie sending to India, Singapore, or other low wage English-speaking countries). The work includes marketing operations such as website content management, quality assurance, analytics and reporting such as analysis of marketing campaigns, or social media analytics.

They lead with their business mission rather than their social mission and need to be competitive in order to get contracts. Their goal was to get as good as neurotypical but found they are better than NTs. AutonomyWorks requires their employees to delivery a quality product that meets their standards but is flexible on productivity.

To on-board staff they have them job shadow to introduce them to the work, since interviews just don’t work for people with autism. They need to demonstrate what they can do. AutonomyWorks designs their work assignments for the way people with autism learn and work best.

AutonomyWorks management created work instructions with visuals, they apply good management practices including setting clear expectations, providing feedback on performance

Employees have their say

A panel featuring two employees shared their work experience. Patrick who worked in the EV laundry was quite self-aware when he said he can handle change if only one thing changes at a time. He was told he should think of himself like a rubber band that should be stretched, but only so far before it breaks. Another employee who worked in a bike shop talked about turning obsessions into something that is more productive. He said he would like to be able to advocate for people with autism.

Peaks and Valleys

A panel of support staff talked about the great variability between strengths and weaknesses – with high highs and low lows. Unlike the school system which looks for what is broken and attempts to fix that, the work place is where strengths and skills are identified and focus is put on that. Look to apply an employee’s strength to a job task – which may mean defining micro-tasks.

What about girls

In response to my question about any differences between the male and female employees, one of the business managers stated, compared to parents of boys, the parents of girls seem to underestimate what their children can do; they tend to think they have significant limits and the parents are more “protective” of their daughters.

3:46 am: woke up worrying about daughter’s education program and her regression due to lowered expectations and requirements, worried about how I will replace my IBM salary. Thought about opening Girl Again, finding people to work there, and how I will have an income

12:30: my daughter becomes agitated and acts out in front of guests. Lovely.

1:20 pm finish lunch and we move to family room to begin workshop; daughter storms off to bedroom

1:30 pm work with Dani at my husband’s computer, on how to research on the American Girl wiki and eBay; looking for fuzzy sweater.

1:42 pm Sarah teaches my daughter how to create stop motion videos – they go off into another room while I have to download video software

1:59 pm working on competitive pricing of an outfit with Dani, teaching how to make a judgement call

2:20 pm: identify more outfits, Dani decides to steam wrinkled dresses, set up new steamer

2:36 pm: searching for matching shoes

2:40 pm: find another complete outfit and we agree on pricing

3:02 pm daughter needs to upload video and we view accomplishment

3: 14 pm volunteers prepare to depart

3:30 pm I clean up lunch dishes

3:50 pm I check email and respond; I call Salvation Army to buy shelves I saw in window on Sunday. They have been sold. Talk to real estate agent and tell him insurance agent will be calling. He wants to know the condition of the roof.

4:10 pm Drive daughter to her theater rehearsal in Armonk. A Chorus Line will be next weekend.

4:49 pm back at home office responding to email

5:22 pm put meatloaf in oven, pour glass of wine. YAY!

5:30 pm respond to email, change password since mom informed me that it seems my email has been hacked.

6:00 pm planning to work on daughter’s IEP but distracted by social media

6:30 pm informed by husband that daughter wants to stay for second rehearsal so he comes home

6:55 pm husband and I sit down for meatloaf and mashed potatoes dinner

7:15 pm I am back at desk responding to email, reading responses to request about web hosting options, sharing with my web “team”

Once Yes She Can became incorporated at the end of November, I focused on getting Girl Again, the resale boutique for American Girl dolls and all their clothes, furniture and accessories, open for the Christmas gift buying season. I had already acquired merchandise – both through purchases and donations and had held a few workshops with volunteers (and future employees). So I thought I was ready. Kind of.

I had hoped that we would open the boutique, located within a new family spa in Hartsdale, NY, on Small Business Saturday but the spa owners were having their own challenges as a start up. They did not have necessary permits and employees hired. While I had enough merchandise to open, I did not want to put the merchandise into the store until I had a formal agreement with the spa business, as well as insurance.

Businesses like Girl Again retail store need insurance to cover the merchandise and the store fixtures in case of loss due to fire or theft. We need insurance to cover accidents that may happen in our tiny space. And we should be covered in case someone has a problem with the merchandise (even though we are not the manufacturer) We also need to cover the board of directors of Yes She Can Inc. We need to cover volunteer workers in case of accident. Eventually when we have employees we will need to cover them with workmen’s compensation.

It’s been a challenge to explain the business concept to insurance carriers. A few of them seem to think this is a sheltered workshop operated by a social service agency.

A sheltered workshop is a type of employment where sub-minimum wage is paid and employees with disabilities are working in a segregated isolated setting. Employees are typically not trained and prepared to work outside of this environment. This is a controversial practice. Some people feel this is still an appropriate practice for people with significant disabilities that they cannot be integrated into the community. Others believe it is archaic and should be eliminated. Think Beyond the Label says sheltered workshops do more harm than good. The Federal government has weighed in on this practice too.

This is the exact opposite of what I want Yes She Can ventures to be. I feel so insulted and misunderstood that what I am creating would be considered a sheltered workshop.

we have held 7 workshops with volunteers with and without ASD preparing merchandise and working on social skills

we have dozens of dolls and outfits prepared for sale – we even have a few people ready to buy

we have a few commitments to mitzvah projects to collect donated American Girl dolls and all their stuff (let me know if you would like to lead a collection drive – we need more merchandise, constantly.)

This is Monica, a young woman with ASD, only recently diagnosed. She struggled with bullying in school dealing with learning challenges and social exchanges. She has lots of potential, she just needs some experience in a comfortable setting and confidence.